LAUREL HILL — When the school bus drives down City Councilman Daniel Lane’s street these days, he hardly notices it.

Until last week, that wasn’t the case.

“You’d think the back end was going to fall off,” Lane said. “You can’t hear it now.”

That’s because Fourth Street, where Lane lives, and two other roads, have finally been repaved after years of discussion and several failed applications for grant money.

City officials said the paving was funded by a $600,000 state Community Development Block Grant.

After a year of engineering planning, equipment from C.W. Roberts Contracting moved into Laurel Hill two weeks ago.

MAJOR SCALE

“We started applying three years ago" for the grant, City Clerk Nita Miller said. “We applied two or three times, and then it was approved in September of 2014.”

“To my knowledge, since incorporation in 1952, nothing like this has been done before,” City Council Chairman Larry Hendren said. “All they’ve done in the past is fill some potholes.”

Lifelong resident Harold Jones said he remembers a later paving in the 1960s because of a childhood injury received from Steel Mill Creek Road’s previous rough surface. While he was bouncing down the street on the way home from school, “My bicycle chain slipped and it took off the end of my toe,” Jones said.

But this is the city’s first large-scale paving project.

By working with C.W. Roberts, the city eked out extra paving than originally requested under the grant, while still coming in within the $600,000 budget.

Fourth Street, for example, was only supposed to be paved from State Road 85 to Park Avenue.

“Fourth Street was the one they had to break into two segments,” Mayor Robby Adams said. “Luckily, C.W. Roberts came in under the allowable maximum that we had, so we were able to do all of it.”

OTHER PROJECTS

Other newly paved streets are Second Street and New Ebenezer Road, on which paving was extended past Industrial Park almost to the city limits by judicious use of materials.

On the south end, New Ebenezer’s paving was supposed to stop at Third Avenue, but was extended along Third to S.R. 85.

“They (CW Roberts engineers) didn’t like the look of that surface,” City Clerk Nita Miller said. “They paved out to behind the Tom Thumb.”

“The more they can do, the better for our citizens,” Hendren said.

Hendren said though originally scheduled to take a week, the project was delayed by rainy weather. The segment of Fourth Street in front of Laurel Hill School’s track remained closed to traffic over the weekend until weather cleared up.

That slight delay didn’t bother residents, who waited decades to have their streets repaved.

“If you’d been over by my house when those pavers came through, you would’ve seen me out there doing the jitterbug,” Lane joked.

Laurel Hill officials are eyeing repaving Sunnyside Avenue for as much of its length between State Road 85 and Third Street as possible.

City Clerk Nita Miller said the city has worked with Okaloosa County officials to resurface the street, one of two main access roads to Laurel Hill School. Miller said the city hopes to start soliciting construction bids in mid-December.

County Public Works staffers are expected to provide a price to do the paving work, but a backlog in county road projects could delay construction more than a year.

If an outside contractor can beat the county’s bid, the city would probably contract with them to get the project underway as soon as possible, Miller said.

NEXT: SUNNYSIDE AVENUE

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill roads re-paved for the first time since the 1960s

CRESTVIEW — Code enforcement officer Senida Oglesby wants the City Council to implement an ordinance governing itinerant, or mobile, vendors.

"There are a vast variety of vendors who come into the city of Crestview, from mobile food vendors to auto dealers to fruit and vegetables, just a wide variety," Oglesby said. "This ordinance would help the Growth Management Department and code enforcement to regulate those types of vendors."

The ordinance would restrict mobile vendors to setting up on commercial property, and would address parking, landscaping, signage, health and sanitation concerns, Oglesby said.

"It would assist in assuring the aesthetics are kept for the use of the property," she said.

The ordinance would also mandate how the vendor parks his or her truck or trailer on the host property.

Non-profit organizations soliciting door to door, vendors setting up in an approved festival or celebration, and yard sales would be exempt from the ordinance, among other exemptions.

“I see a need for this,” Council President Shannon Hayes said during Monday's city council meeting.

'WE NEED THE MONEY'

Other area cities have successful itinerant vendor permitting processes, and Crestview could benefit from them, assistant Public Works director Carlos Jones said.

"That's what every other city around here does," Jones said. "We need the money."

While she did not have specific permit fees on hand, Oglesby said she would expect them to be comparable to those assessed by other cities of Crestview's size.

Some council members did raise concerns about the recommendation.

"I don't want us to be gouging anybody with exorbitant fees where people don't come," Hayes said.

"We don't want to be seen as trying to drive business out of town," Councilman JB Whitten said.

LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD

Several business owners spoke during the presentation. Auto dealership owners Bob Lee and Allen Turner — who own Crestview's Chrysler and Chevrolet dealerships, respectively — said the ordinance is necessary.

"We just want to see the playing field leveled," Lee said. "What we're concerned about … is we don't believe it's fair for someone to come to town and pitch a tent. There's a lot of things we're required to do to operate in town that an itinerant vendor doesn't have to do."

Main Street Crestview Association member and business owner April Meier, of Pawsitively Scrumptious, cautioned against crafting an ordinance that would affect vendors setting up for downtown events such as the Triple B and Fall Festival.

“They're paying $75 already” for booth space, Meier said of vendors. “If there's going to be another fee on there, I want you to be cognizant of that.”

Festivals would be exempt from the ordinance, Oglesby said.

Resident Wendell Beatty expressed concern about the council implementing more hurdles to running a mom-and-pop business.

"I ask you to think about the little guy when trying to solve the big guys' problems," Beatty said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview ordinance recommended for mobile vendors

LAUREL HILL — Former City Councilman Johnny James and his wife, Earnestine's, property is closer to being annexed into the city.

The council on Thursday voted 3-1 — with Councilman Scott Moneypenny dissenting — to accept the Jameses' petition for annexation.

Now, the matter needs to be passed by ordinance, but there is some confusion about how to handle that.

At Council Chairman Larry Hendren's request, Councilwoman Debra Adams amended her motion to accept the Jameses' petition, as long as a land-planning consultant guides the city through the annexation process.

James needs to pay $950 to cover anticipated consultant's costs, Hendren initially said.

But upon reviewing itemized fees stipulated in a 2007 city annexation resolution, Adams said the Jameses met the requirements and paid the correct $2,050 fee.

Several residents spoke in favor of the Jameses' petition.

"There was no problem taking his check," one resident said. "To stand there and say, 'We're not going to do it' — that's not right. The man has jumped through hoops."

"We (want) to bring people into our city but we're fighting as hard as we can to not bring this man into our city," Adams said.

Moneypenny said his concern was having taxpayers cover the $950.

Adams said the council shouldn't even have the discussion because James met the city's requirements for annexation, including filing the correct fee.

"This should already have been an ordinance on the agenda, ready to go, because he (James) did what the resolution said," Adams said. "It shouldn't be a request … according to Florida statutes."

Johnny James stepped down from the city council dais in April after learning his property was outside city limits.

Asked if he wants to serve as a council member again, following annexation, he said, "I don't know. I want to take care of first things first."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former Laurel Hill councilman's land closer to annexation, but process gets complicated

LAUREL HILL — The City Council has a new, fifth member after months of deadlocking on the decision.

City leaders on Thursday voted 3-1 to appoint Travis Dewrell to serve the seat Johnny James once occupied.

Councilwoman Debra Adams voted nay in the 3-1 vote.

James stepped down from the dais in April, upon learning his residence is outside Laurel Hill city limits.

Dewrell's appointment followed the council's provisional acceptance of James' application to have his property annexed into the city.

 "I've been coming here three months," Dewrell said after the vote. "I was expecting to be nominated again, but not appointed. I expected it (the vote) to be 2-2 for the next however long."

Council Chairman Larry Hendren immediately swore Dewrell into office.

"It'll be different," Hendren said, having also presided over a four-member council for 18 months before the filling of a vacant seat in the March elections.

"I think it's wonderful to have a five-person council," he said. "No more tie votes."

"Hopefully we'll get some stuff done now," said Dewrell, who will start serving the city in December. "We won't always be two-to-two."

During the meeting, the council again failed to appoint a vice chairman due to deadlocked votes.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill council selects fifth member